Thomas Christiansen now fighting for his future

He cut a resigned figure after the match and almost looked lost for words as he pondered his future at Leeds United in the immediate aftermath of another chastening defeat.

And Thomas Christiansen was fully aware that he is now very much swimming against the tide at the club on an afternoon where fans' frustrations grew tenfold after witnessing a pathetic collapse from their side once more.

He has spoken firmly about indiscipline in the past but almost became accepting of Gaetano Berardi's brainless lunge on Gary Madine here, despite expressing his disappointment and his answer when asked about his future appeared as good as a challenge to the board to fire him there and then.

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The indications are that Leeds will not look to make a change anytime soon given they have just emerged from a transfer window in which they have backed the manager financially and will not make any rash decisions.

But yesterday, perhaps for the first time since his arrival, felt like a potentially decisive moment in Leeds' season and their play-off hopes will be all but extinguished should they fail to win at Sheffield United next weekend.

Fans made it vehemently clear what they felt about the performance by either leaving early or staying on to incessantly boo his decision to take off Pierre-Michel Lasogga and replace him with Hadi Sacko, with audible chants of 'you don't know what you're doing' confirming that he is losing the fans, if he hasn't lost them already.

The defensive crisis continues

2018 has seemed to lurch from one disaster to another. Samuel Saiz's suspension at Newport, Eunan O'Kane's moment of madness against Ipswich, Liam Cooper and Kalvin Phillips' naivety against Millwall, Conor Shaughnessy's injury at Hull and now this.

When Pontus Jansson fell in the Cardiff penalty area after an apparent collision with Sol Bamba, no-one inside Elland Road expected a stretcher to be required but that's exactly what happened.

It was indicative of the rut Leeds find themselves in right now and, whatever you think of the sending-off, the idiocy of Berardi's second yellow card given the situation Leeds found themselves in is simply inexcusable.

The Leeds United backline is struggling to be patched up amid an injury and suspension crisis

He was rightly aggrieved at the initial yellow he was shown and the general performance of the inconsistent Graham Scott but to try and tackle Gary Madine in the way he did was disappointing from a player of his experience.

It now leaves Leeds with a cobbled-together backline at best which will be made up of various square pegs in round holes, including the potential for Adam Forshaw to play at centre-back once more.

Ezgjan Alioski is only starting because no-one else can

The Macedonian is incredibly fortunate that he is a member of the starting XI on such a frequent basis currently and is likely to end the season as their highest appearance maker as things stand.

Everything he did against Cardiff confirmed this is a player who requires an absence from the starting XI in order to find his groove again but the lack of competition currently is startling.

Alioski had an opportunity when the book was thrown at Saiz to take centre stage and become the driving attacking midfield force for Leeds but has endured his worst form since signing for the club.

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He is stuck in a crisis of confidence and looks in need of a spell out of the starting XI, but that will not arrive given the paucity of available first-team options.

His needless flicks and inability to beat the first man with crosses incensed supporters throughout and he allowed his frustrations to show at times on the pitch.

Selection problems raise awkward questions of recruitment strategy

It was put to Christiansen at his pre-match press conference on Friday whether or not he would have acted had he been able to identify a versatile central defender to play in numerous positions and his confirmation was clear.

Yet he suggested those players are not freely available on the market at such a late stage of the transfer window and it raises some difficult questions for the club over decisions made in the transfer window.

Of course they could not account for the decimation to the squad through injuries and suspensions, but Leeds looked light in central defence regardless, with Pennington and Shaughnessy both very much junior replacements for Jansson and Cooper, even if the former is a Premier League loanee.

Thomas Christiansen does not believe Lewie Coyle is ready for Leeds United's first team yet (Image: Getty Images)

His post-match comments on Lewie Coyle surprised many, with the suggestion from the manager being that the right-back ws not recalled on deadline day due to the fact he would not be guaranteed minutes yet their crisis is so desperate that he wouldn't have had a choice now.

The Yosuke Ideguchi question will also continue to be asked, even if the central midfield worries will ease somewhat next weekend and there will surely be a regret at hastiness over some of their own players and an apparent reluctance to look externally too.

Stuart Dallas offers sole source of encouragement

There were very few positives, if any, during yesterday's humiliation but Stuart Dallas could emerge from the wreckage with his head held high.

He has been forced into an unfamiliar position but has adapted to the situation with a minimum of fuss and played a key role in Leeds initially showing signs of recovery at the start of the second half.

Dallas did not allow Yanic Wildschut to run away from him as freely as Berardi had managed early on and showed he can be trusted in any position he is asked to play by his manager.